Back in the Studio

Yep, I am back and crafting big time! So what am I doing?

Well a bit of sewing; using the free instructions from Sher’s Creative Space, I made a couple of phone sleeves for gifts. 

I made this one to carry to football games, it is a bit too snug for my phone but I did use it. I think I will remake it before next season.

(I have a Christmas one for me cut and ready to sew, you know the one for you, one for me thing.)

I have made a lot of travel tissue covers. They make neat little stocking stuffers and are nice to take to memorial services. I found these instructions over on Two BrownBirds blog.

The tissue cover on the right is actually a silhouette of my granddaughter that I printed. 

So generous of these folks to share the free tutorials!

Last spring I took an Iced Resin workshop at Ephemera Paducah, it was a lot of fun so I bought a 2-part plunger and some bezels. I brought them home and promptly put them on a shelf.  A newsletter from Iced Resin showed up in my email folder offering the plungers at a real good price and free shipping. Hmm, I thought, but first I should probably use what is on the shelf.  So I did.  I can tell you resin is so much fun!!!.  And yes, I did order more! I will have to do a post next week to show off my new baubles. Oh, and today's e-newsletter, I see Ice Resin is hosting workshops in Tucson in February. You know where I will be in February, yes I will be in Arizona and I think I can arrange to be in Tucson! 

Handy Randy has been busy in the shop finishing the shelves for my studio slat wall, which of course I must paint. He thinks the studio redo is completed (and maybe it is.)

Blessing Baskets in Paducah

Inspired to shop locally and avoid the mall and big box store crowds, I stopped in at the farmers market at Baptist Health Paducah on a Thursday morning to see what Crystal Troutt of Troutts Garden Soups & Such was selling. I have known Crystal for a long time and knew she would have the perfect food gifts. What I didn’t know was that she is selling Blessing Baskets.

In fact, I had not heard of the Blessing Baskets Project. As she explained the project, I was quite intrigued and asked if I could post some photos and share the link. She enthusiastically (that is Crystal!) said yes.

If you, like me, are not aware of the project, the baskets are made and bought directly from artisans (leaving out the middle person’s profit) throughout the world. It is a 501(c) organization whose mission is to help folks pull themselves out of poverty. I encourage you to go to their website, www.blessingbasket.org, and learn more about this amazing project.

The baskets are beautiful! However, I did not buy any as the ones she had with her had “sold” marked on them and she had already promised her next shipment.

I did buy hot drink mix gifts (and a few things for myself.)

When I got home, I realized I did not have the correct size gift bags. So, did I get in the car and drive to the mall area to buy bags. Nope, I had plenty of wrapping paper; using a tutorial on the Beautiful Mess blog, I whipped up four in probably less time than making a shopping trip.

I used Tombow Xtreme instead of the regular adhesive runner to prevent the seams from coming loose. Don’t ask me how I know about breaks in seams and candy falling out.

In the spring, Crystal and her husband will be opening the Troutt Old Time General Store and Market in Lowertown. They will be carrying the Blessing Baskets as well as other unique, wholesome products. (Think Mrs. Meyers cleaning products.) In the meantime, like her on Facebook and know when and where she is setting up her market.

Christmas Pillows

For the most part, I am sticking to my resolve to avoid the mall and big box stores for Christmas shopping. This week I spent time in The Underground making gifts.

I had quite a stash of burlap left from Art in the Garden in 2013. Using my Silhouette Portrait and freezer paper, some of it was turned into pillows. Taking advantage of the 12 Days of Christmas free designs from the SilhouetteStore, I had a grand time!

These designs were not free designs, but I did get them for half-price (50 cents) earlier in the month.

One of my granddaughters  redecorated her room this year, using purple and gray with a French flair. I found this burlap in my stash and thought it might work for her.

On the reverse side of the burlap, I stenciled a fleur-de-lis for the front.

My daughter-in-law requested a fleur-de-lis pillow. I did this one on canvas 

If you have not yet tried the freezer paper stencil tutorial on the Silhouette School Blog, it is a really simple process. Hop on over to their site and take a look.

Let me share a few tips from my experiences.

• Bold colors tend to show up better on burlap. When some of the colors I chose were too light, I repainted with a darker color after I removed the stencil.
• Thread the color of the burlap works great to correct paint bleeds in a small area.
•  If using a white pillow form, it looks best to use a natural color (like muslin) for a liner.
• For me, I find more paint bleeding when stenciling on canvas making the edges a bit fuzzy. I found the heavy acrylic works better than craft paint.

On Wednesday I will share some of my 2014 gift ornaments. 

This year we are giving our oldest granddaughter our gift of time. She has wanted a garden for some time so in the early spring my husband will build her a 4-foot square bed; I will help her with the planting. Her favorite fruit is strawberries so I thought it would be neat to present her a gift card for the garden in a strawberry basket with the suggestion she plant strawberries. I did make a trip to the candy store in the mall to buy strawberry candy for the basket, but I thought that would be okay as it needed special touch. 

Fall Hostess Gifts

Have I been slack in posting this summer? Yes I have! It’s not that I haven’t been in The Underground; I just haven’t been here as much. So, where have I been? Well, a lot of places, visiting a lot of friends which means when I am here I am often making hostess gifts. I love this idea I saw in Country Garden Magazine and also on Facebook. It is so easy, especially since I have a lot of succulents in the potager.

Just glue some sheet moss to a pumpkin and use a glue gun to glue the succulents to it. According to the magazine article, when the pumpkin starts to show signs of decay, the top can be sliced off and potted either in a pot or in the garden.

I needed a last minute gift for a dinner party so using my handy dandy Silhouette Portrait to make a freezer paper stencil; I whipped up this simple little pillow.

I have made number of Thank You notes and birthday cards. (They can be seen on the card page.) It has been so much fun sorting through Tracy’s stash, picking out papers and ribbons.  Last week she delivered another car load with the most beautiful art papers and fabrics; can’t wait to put these into projects!

All of those hanging as well as those on the top shelf are from her stash! 

And now that I am retired (yes, I am no longer  a per diem telephone triage nurse!) I will have more time to play in the studio and at Ephemera Paducah. But first, one more road trip; we are headed to Dallas for a college football game (Gig’em) and the Texas State Fair.  I must get busy and get my traveling art bag packed!

Oh, and the money I will not be using for my R.N. license renewal, I bought Elisa Burke’s Blogging Tutorial! Look for changes!